19 tracks and 80 minutes. That's one strike against it.

Very well written review. I am impressed. I'll b 1st in line to get my copy of The Beekeeper

Tori Amos has been a very busy bee of late. Since 2001, she has released an album of covers, “Strange Little Girls”, a full-length album of original material, “Scarlet’s Walk”, a “Best Of” collection with new tracks and reworked versions of old tracks, “Tales of a Librarian”, and a live DVD that includes a bonus audio CD of previously unreleased tracks, “Welcome to Sunny Florida.” This, in addition to touring extensively, switching record labels, and becoming a mother. Despite the flurry of activity, she has managed to put together a new book on her music (“Piece by Piece”, due to hit stores on 2/8/05), and a new studio album, “The Beekeeper”, which may be the crowning achievement of her prolific career.


Amos is widely known for having among the most fiercely loyal and dedicated fan base of any artist in the last 15 years. A child prodigy who honed her skills playing bars around the Georgetown area of Washington, DC, Tori first landed a record deal in the 80’s and released her debut album as a member of a band called “Y Kan’t Tori Read” as that decade was drawing to a close. More closely related to the heavily produced mid-80’s albums by Heart and Vixen than any of Tori’s solo work, “Y Kan’t Tori Read”, famously dissed by Billboard Magazine as “bimbo” music, was a spectacular flop, despite containing several hints of the artist that Tori would ultimately become. It was on “Little Earthquakes”, her solo debut, that Tori made her mark, and attracted her legions of fans. Often brutally confessional, tracks like “Silent All These Years”, “Winter”, “Precious Things” and “Me and A Gun” connected with millions of fans, and launched Tori into a wild ride of recording and touring that has followed her rise from the wide-eyed young woman just spreading her wings and finding her voice on “Little Earthquakes”, to the wiser, more reflective and experienced performer on “Scarlet’s Walk” and her new offering, “The Beekeeper”.


The Tori Amos of 2005 is quite different from the Tori of 14 years ago, when she sang the stark, a cappella rape drama “Me and a Gun”. Or, the Tori recovering from a broken relationship on “Boys for Pele”, in which she apparently would have gladly hoisted and dropped most of the men she knew (if not ALL) into a fiery volcano. Or, the Tori of “From the Choirgirl Hotel”, an edgy, almost psychedelic rock album that painfully chronicled her tragic miscarriage. Tori’s music of today is different – she is married, a mother, and older - and her songs don’t have the naked emotional immediacy of her earlier work. But that is not a bad thing, only different, and it allows Tori to go off in different directions that would not have made sense on earlier records.


“The Beekeeper” is a milestone album. Over the course of 19 tracks and nearly 80 minutes – with no wasted space – there is a great deal to explore. It features some of the loveliest lyrics and most compelling melodies of her career, like first single “Sleeps with Butterflies”. Seeming simple and gentle at first listen, “Sleeps with Butterflies” unfolds with surprising depth of feeling and a self-assuredness that is striking throughout the album. “Martha’s Foolish Ginger” and “Goodbye Pisces” are simply gorgeous, as is the breezy “Jamaica Inn”. “Ribbons Undone” is a touching and lovely tribute to her young daughter. “Toast”, the albums closing track, is elegiac and nostalgic, a graceful goodbye. Stripped down, only a voice and a piano and simple acoustic guitar, it is Tori at her best – certain to induce a quite a few tears in her audience when she plays it live, it may be a late-added elegy to her brother Michael, who died tragically last year in an automobile accident.


“Hoochie Woman” is one of the most entertaining piano vamps of her career. Similar in spirit to classics like “Leather” and “Bachelorette”, it’s destined to be a crowd-pleasing live favorite, especially with the one liner “Cause boys, I bring home the bacon, now!” Independent woman, indeed. “Parasol,” breezily melodic and beguilingly simple, is an apt opener to the album. “Cars and Guitars”, an obvious choice as a future single, is similar melodically to “Northern Lad” in some respects, and to “Taxi Ride” musically. Focusing on a troubled relationship, “Cars and Guitars” is a quirky song that at first seems slight, but gains traction on repeated listening, and is ultimately one of the albums finest moments.


She does go off in unexpected directions on “The Beekeeper”. “Ireland” seems at first a very laid-back, almost reggae flavored track, but builds in intensity as it progresses, and soon becomes more substantial than it first appears. “Witness” is a funky R&B jaunt, complete with a gospel choir, and some of her most intense vocals on record. Reminiscent of Joan Osbourne’s “Righteous Love”-era material, “Witness” is almost like a more fully developed version of, or perhaps a sequel to, the classic Pele-era track “Little Amsterdam”. The title track is long and hypnotic, with solemn vocals over haunting electronic instrumentation reminiscent of “Suede” from the underrated “To Venus and Back.” “Sweet the Sting” is another track that practically screams for radio play – a sly, sexy bossa-nova, it’s about the undeniable attraction of a man who may not be the most sensible choice as a lover, but would certainly be fun. “The Power of Orange Knickers”, with harmony vocals by Damien Rice, is another highlight of the record – a repetitive and insistent melody with some of the most compelling imagery on a record filled with beautiful word pictures.


Tori can be hit and miss as a producer, but on “The Beekeeper” she delivers. “Scarlet’s Walk”, in the hands of another producer, may have been a #1 album, so rich and appealing was the material. Alas, Tori burdened it with a murky and muddled production that carried into her live show. “The Beekeeper” is an improvement – cleaner and crisper, more dynamic and fresh sounding. More inventive than “Scarlet’s Walk”, and riskier, Tori allows others vocalists onto the record – a wise move that she should do more often. Perhaps more stylistically diverse than any of her prior albums, “The Beekeeper” nonetheless maintains its coherence as a complete work, and has a definite flow that works. Not every track works 100% - on any album this long there will be a little fat – but that is necessary. She allows herself to stretch out, and wander around a bit. She has given herself a broad canvas to work with, a full 80 minutes, and while every track will not connect with every listener, there is such a wealth of material that fans can’t help but to be thrilled.


There are moments on “The Beekeeper” where, lyrically, it seems too hardly fought. Without the impact and directness of her earlier work and its confessional honesty, sometimes Tori’s more obtuse lyrics can come off like an exercise in writing, without the meaning to give it weight. Tori’s work is never easy and never quickly digested, even “The Beekeeper”, which may be the most user-friendly and instantly accessible of her career. The reward is in the careful attention and patience that Tori’s work requires – allow it to seep into your brain, and you are hooked. That is the reason why so many people don’t “get” Tori’s music. Not that she is for everyone – she isn’t – but many are not willing to expend the effort to discover what Tori’s legions of devotees have discovered: we are blessed to be witnessing the development of a timeless artist at the peak of her game, and she delivers spectacularly with “The Beekeeper.”

Thank you jonsnow for such a thoughtful and extensive review. Very intriguing and makes it sound more delicious than ever. Do you write professionally?

scuse me while I break the review up into paragraphs cuz the original
makes my eyes hurt



I want the album NOW though